Sox Hit 3 Home Runs In 16-2 Win At Texas
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jose Abreu and Jordan Danks each had two-run homers, Erik Johnson combined with three relievers on a two-hitter and the Chicago White Sox snapped a four-game losing streak with a 16-2 victory Sunday over the Texas Rangers, who had won five in a row.
The White Sox went ahead to stay with three unearned runs off Robbie Ross (1-1) in the fifth, including Abreu's fifth homer of the season for a 5-2 lead.
Johnson (1-1) allowed two runs and only a single over his five innings, but the right-hander walked the leadoff batter the first four innings and threw only 44 of his 87 pitches for strikes. The Rangers also scored on a wild pitch, and had another runner thrown out trying to do the same.
Ronald Belisario threw two scoreless innings before Andre Rienzo and Matt Lindstrom each worked an inning.
Marcus Semien had four hits, including a bases-loaded triple, while Abreu added two doubles to his homer. The White Sox had 18 hits and a season high in runs after scoring a combined 12 runs their previous six games.
Tyler Flowers, who had three hits, had a leadoff single in the fifth, then went to third on Semien's one-out grounder when third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff made a throwing error while trying to start a double play. Conor Gillaspie had a tiebreaking sacrifice fly before Abreu homered.
Semien's triple came in a strange sixth when Ross stuck out the last two batters he faced on a pair of non-routine plays. Reliever Shawn Tolleson then intentionally walked No. 9 batter Danks to bring up Semien.
Ross' final batter was Alejandro De Aza, who was called out on a third-strike check swing even though the ball appeared to either hit his hand or the bat. That came right after Alexei Ramirez had reached because of a wild pitch on the strike.
Manager Robin Ventura unsuccessfully challenged the strikeout against De Aza, claiming De Aza was hit by a pitch. The explanation from umpires in New York was that the ruling on the field stood — that the batter was out on a checked swing.
De Aza certainly acted like he had been hit, and the ball appeared to change direction for some reason.
Ross, a converted reliever, had a career high eight strikeouts with no walks in his 5 1-3 innings after not allowing an earned run his previous two starts. The lefty gave up seven hits and seven runs, four of them earned.
Flowers had a leadoff single in the third before Danks' first homer.
Josh Wilson drew a leadoff walk and scored on a sac fly by Shin-Soo Choo in the third inning, which ended when Leonys Martin got tagged out trying to score on pitch that ricocheted off the backstop.
Elvis Andrus walked to start the fourth, then went to third on a stolen base and errant throw by catchers Flowers before scoring on a wild pitch that made it 2-all.
Notes: The White Sox avoided their first three-series sweep in Arlington since August 2007. ... Rangers INF Luis Sardinas became the youngest player to appear in the majors this season when the 20-year-old made his major league debut. He came into the game at shortstop for Andrus and then got an infield single his first at-bat. ... Kouzmanoff was 0 for 3, ending his 10-game hitting streak to start his Rangers career.
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